Steeltown showdown

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This article was published 03/10/2024 (463 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON – It might have taken a bit of time to get there, but the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are back where many expected them to be as we enter the final stretch of the 2024 CFL regular season.

The Bombers (9-6) still trail the Montreal Alouettes (11-3-1) for the league’s top record, but there’s no doubting Winnipeg is the hottest team right now. Winners of seven consecutive games, the Blue and Gold have a three-point cushion atop the West Division with three regular-season games remaining.

They meet arguably the second hottest team in the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who will play host Friday night. The Ticats have won four in a row to improve to 6-9, and while there’s plenty of work to do down the stretch, their recent resurgence has kept them alive in the race for a playoff spot.

With that, we get you set up for kickoff with the latest edition of 5 Storylines.

DÉJÀ BLUE

This one has a similar feel to the game in Edmonton a few weeks back. That game was being dubbed a match between the league’s two hottest teams, as Winnipeg was on a five-game streak and the Elks had won five of their previous six.

As was the case with Edmonton, a lot of the talk has centered around the Ticats and their improbable journey toward attempting to earn a playoff berth. Things didn’t exactly work out for the Elks, with back-to-back losses to Winnipeg all but eliminating them from the post-season picture.

The Bombers can provide the same reality check to the Ticats this week. A win would not only decimate Hamilton’s already slim chances of making the playoffs, but it would also have the potential of locking up the West Division, so long as there’s Saskatchewan Roughriders loss or tie against the Elks on Saturday.

History suggests it won’t be easy for the Bombers, who last won a regular season game in Hamiton in August 2017. You also know Hamilton is going to want to exact some revenge after falling to the Bombers, 26-23, on a last-second drive in Week 12 after taking the lead late in the third quarter.

HALL OF FAMERS

Predictably, neither player wanted to talk about the significance of going head-to-head, pretending as if two future hall-of-fame quarterbacks playing against each other was some kind of common occurrence.

Spoiler: it’s not.

That’s exactly what you get with the Bombers’ Zach Collaros and the Ticats’ Bo Levi Mitchell behind centre. Adding to the intriguing matchup is the fact both players are coming off arguably the best performance of their illustrious careers.

In what’s been a relatively down year for Collaros, at least statistically, the Bombers pivot exploded for a career-high six touchdown passes in a 55-27 shellacking over the Elks last week. Collaros completed 81 per cent of his throws (21-for-26) for 432 yards and the six scores, improving his TD-interception ratio to 15:14.

As for Mitchell, after being shutout in the first half against the B.C. Lions, he roared back with four TD drives to earn a 32-29 victory in overtime. He completed 26 of his final 27 passes, finishing the night with 315 yards through the air – Mitchell’s eighth game with at least 300 yards this season.

Both have a solid O-line and are surrounded by weapons at receiver and running back. Both will need to be at the top of their game if they want to extend their win streaks.

CHRIS JONES EFFECT

Nothing seemed to work for Chris Jones in Edmonton, with the club’s former general manager and head coach relieved of his duties after starting the year 0-5 and going 8-48 over parts of three seasons. Now in Hamilton, hired on as a senior defensive consultant, Jones is flourishing with his new team.

His first game was against Winnipeg a few weeks back, which included limiting the Bombers to 321 offensive yards, while forcing Collaros to throw three interceptions in the narrow defeat. The Ticats haven’t lost since, with the defence averaging six fewer points against per game in their last four tilts.

Ask the players on Hamilton and they’ll tell you Jones has them playing free and loose, unafraid to make a mistake. Quiz Collaros on the topic and he said Jones usually starts with a plan, zeroing in on a specific style of co-ordinator or QB, but isn’t afraid to adjust on the fly.

“He digs into the analytics of the game, understands all those kind of numbers, and he usually uses that with his intuition on how to call a game,” Collaros added. “Going back and watching the games that you’ve played against him, he usually has a good feel for what’s going on. It’s always a challenge.”

MOP WATCH

If there’s one area against the Ticats that seems exploitable, it’s their run defence. While Hamilton has been playing well under Jones, they’ve allowed an average of more than 100 rushing yards across the five games he’s been at the helm.

That should be music to the ears of Brady Oliveira, who is currently leading the CFL in rushing yards, with 1,107. Oliveira has been a consistent contributor for Winnipeg all year, with some of his best work coming in the last few weeks.

Oliveira is averaging a combined 120 yards on the ground and through the air over the last three games. His 47 receptions this season is already a new career high, and at 409 receiving yards, he’s on pace to surpass his single-season high of 482 yards he registered in 2023.

Despite another strong season, few were looking the Winnipeg native’s way as a potential candidate for the league’s Most Outstanding Player — an award Oliveira narrowly miss out on last year, as the West nominee, falling to Toronto’s Chad Kelly. The lack of love came from a lack of TDs this season, with none to show for thorough the first 14 weeks.

With three TDs in the past two games — including a candidate for TD of the year in a 33-yard catch-and-run last week — Oliveira has skyrocketed up the list of front-runners. To hammer home that point: Vegas oddsmakers had Oliveira at 14-to-1 odds to win the MOP last week, only to change it to barely making double your money after his performance against the Elks.

KICKERS UNITE

In a matchup that feels like every point is going to be meaningful, there will be little room for error, especially when it comes to the kicking game. It just so happens this game features a couple of former teammates in Marc Liegghio and Sergio Castillo, both of whom helped Winnipeg win the second of back-to-back Grey Cups in 2021 — beating Hamilton, in Hamilton, no less.

It’s been a nice change of scenery for Liegghio, who left town after an up-and-down campaign in 2022, including having blocked what would have been a Grey Cup winning field goal in a 24-23 loss to the Toronto Argonauts. Closer to home — he’s actually living at home — Liegghio has put together a solid second season in Hamilton, where he’s able to focus solely on place kicking, converting at a nearly 90 per cent success rate on field goals.

As for Castillo, he continues to impress in what’s been a historic season. He’s not only set a new franchise record for longest field goal, connecting from 60 yards twice this season, his nine successful field goals from 50-plus yards are also a new single-season CFL record.

What’s more, Castillo needs two more field goals to tie his single-season high of 46 he set last year. That might sound easy, but Hamilton is known for its challenging winds, so another stellar performance will be all the more impressive.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton